Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

“Long Walk to Freedom: The autobiography (1994) of Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), the first black president of South Africa, who, under the apartheid regime, had been jailed for three decades, largely on Robben Island. The title is said to have been inspired by the words in ‘From Lucknow to Tripuri,’ and essay (1939) by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), who was to become the first prime minister of independent India:

There is not easy walk-over to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow again and again before we reach the mountain-tops of our desire.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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